How C++ Debuggers Work

Speaker: Simon Brand

Audience level: Beginner | Intermediate

Debuggers are one of the most important tools in the belt of any developer, but they are often seen as a magic black box. This is compounded by the lack of available literature, especially when compared to other toolchain components like compilers. This talk aims to demystify debuggers by showing how the utilities you use every day actually work.

Topics which will be covered include debug information and object file formats, breakpoints, stepping, register and memory manipulation, stack unwinding, multi-threaded applications, and expression evaluation. x86 Linux platforms will be used for demonstrative purposes.